Category: BCM110

Society today is obsessed with knowing what is going on around the world. Collectively we all like to know how other countries are progressing politically and we like to know of anything that should possibly worry us. The majority of people know that it is Fairfax that owns the majority of news media such as local newspapers and the Daily Telegraph. The matter of who owns the media is important to the public because if it were all owned by the one person or company, the articles produced are more than likely going to be subject to bias. However, just because the media isn’t specifically owned by the own company or person, doesn’t mean that news articles are not subject to bias. Prime Minister Robert Menzies went to Federal Parliament in order to stop a British company from buying out 4 radio stations, it was his belief that such a strong tool for propaganda shouldn’t fall into foreign hands. He also believed that this form of media shouldn’t fall into the hands of a special interest group that are narrow minded and more likely to produce biased articles. It is writing an article that is neutral so that both sides of an argument has been discussed and they are neutralised in order for the audience to devise their own opinion of the issue is what makes an article successful. It matters who owns the media because without the variation and acknowledging fact versus opinion within an article, Australia would all have the same view as opposed to devising their own opinion on the matter.

For example, whenever it comes time to vote, newspapers tend to publish stories that make the party that they’re voting for look better than the other. Newspapers will also post stories for the opposite parties which can hinder their reputation. A prime example of this is when it came to the election in 2014 between Rudd and Abbott, the Daily telegraph posted newspaper headlines in order to make Abbott look like the better option for parliament against Rudd:

The market is too narrow for newspapers to play to the centre ground, it’s the outrageous headlines such as ‘Kick this mob out!’ With a photo of Kevin Rudd and headlines like ‘Australia Needs Tony!’ With a photo of Tony Abbott that catches the audiences eye. Headlines like ‘liberal and labor: both beneficial’ aren’t going to make the audience want to read the article because they have already formulated their opinion and are more than likely not going to agree to anything that the opposition has to say. However if the headline were to relate to a robbery or a plane crash with a neutral slogan, the audience is more likely to read the article due to the fact that they have no knowledge of the story.

Example

Overall, it matters who owns the media because the public needs to learn about the events happening around the world but need to do so without the excessive amount of bias that would come if there were only to be one man or company owning the media.

Or in other words; Lose your excessive weight and stop eating meat! Advertisements are notorious for over stepping social boundaries and pushing the buttons of various social groups. However, juse because it is the minority that is the loudest does not mean that they’re the majority. This billboard was erected Jacksonville, California and caused a stir almost instantly. Controversial advertisements such as this billboard produced by PETA are created to cause a stir within the community and to get people talking about it.

This billboard advertisement is controversial because it manages to address various different controversial topics such as body image, societal standards and political correctness.

The denotation presented on this page can be interpreted in specific ways. At first your eyes are drawn to the large caption saying ‘Save the whales!’ With your eyes following to the drawing of a large lady after you read the caption. Immediately your thoughts are drawn to it being offensive and rude. The connotation of this advertisement is that it is trying to increase the amount of people that are signed up to PETA and to become a vegetarian to improve their campaigning.

Not long after this billboard was released in 2009, it was replaced by another billboard by PETA:

This billboard also gained a lot of attention from the media and from onlookers who after seeing these billboards, decided to become vegetarian. Many people feel that the billboard’s statement saying ‘lose the blubber’ with a photograph as a larger lady was cruel to the obese and tampered with advertisements need to target many audiences. On the other hand though, many people called in to take the 30 day ‘Pledge to be a veg’ challenge.

It just goes to show that people will take controversial images in many different story ways and it has to do with how they interpret the connotations and denotations of the image.

Social Media has become an essential part of human life, whether we like it or not. People who are 22 and under have essentially grown up online. Whether it just be playing on ‘Paint’ or whether your parents are posting your baby photos to Facebook, there is no escaping the void that is social media. People are so obsessed with their online social presence that it’s taking over our lives. Body image is a continuous controversial topic amongst the media and will probably never stop being one. Women are so obsessed with the ‘ideal body type’ that it has created a divide in the female species

From this photo you can clearly see that there are various different body types amongst women, however what is considered ‘Too Fat’ and ‘Too Skinny’?

Across the media there are a countless amount of articles ab
out ‘Loving your curves’ or ‘Muffin Tops are sexy!’ but it is very rare to see articles about ‘Love your skinny body’ or ‘Embrace your thigh gap!’

These body image anxieties throughout the media are so biased that girls who are naturally skinny are shunned if they try and show the slightest bit of self confidence. These girls are looked down on by the media and on social media by their peers because if they do display any self confidence in their bodies it is seen as an act to stifle a bigger girl’s confidence and esteem. If a young girl posts a photo in her bikini she isn’t praised for being confident but she is looked down on for showing a ‘little too much skin’ and possibly hurting another girls feelings just because she has a flat tummy.
But in reverse isn’t a skinny girl’s confidence being stifled all just because she’s thin?

The media anxiety that is ‘Body Image’ is an on going circle of controversies and contradictions when all in all shouldn’t the topic begin and end with ‘If she’s a healthy weight for her size, then she’s beautiful’. This media anxiety has caused eating disorders in women worldwide all because they just want to be liked and viewed as beautiful by others. Along with this point, the media anxieties that are produced about body image can make bigger girls feel depressed when they see magazine covers such as Maxim which always have photos of ‘aesthetically beautiful’ women. This can and has caused controversy due to the ongoing topic that is ‘The Ideal Body Type’.

Another angle that this media anxiety has taken is that you are no longer morally allowed to call somebody fat, it is now considered discriminatory. But in conjunction with this there is such a thing as being over weight, which people seem to forget. I believe that when it comes to the body image anxieties that are produced in the media that it focuses too much on how you look as opposed to how healthy you are.